NYTimes: Economy is Booming. But...

(JewishBlogmeister posted on this as well)

But nothing. The Times is sinking to new lows with yesterday's article on the economy. NewsBusters destroys the Times editorial, and is a must-read, but I'm going to add a few points.

First, as both NB and Best of the Web point out:

From today's New York Times:

Gasoline is cheaper than it was before Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans. Consumer confidence jumped last month and new- home sales hit a record. The stock market has been rising. Even the nation's beleaguered factories seem headed for a happy holiday season.

By most measures, the economy appears to be doing fine. No, scratch that, it appears to be booming.

But as always with the United States economy, it is not quite that simple.

Except maybe when Bill Clinton is president.

The article emphasizes on four different occasions that GDP may drop substantially next year; it never makes a similar comment in reverse. Here are those quotes, and the three actual projections it quotes:

It all means that the economy is likely to end the year with a splash, but that does not mean the broad economic picture next year will be even better.

Indeed, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development said today that the United States economy is likely to be a repeat of 2005. The O.E.C.D. projected that 2005 growth will settle at 3.6 percent, down from 4.2 percent in 2004. The O.E.C.D. also forecast 2006 growth at 3.5 percent, but other economists think that may be too optimistic.

"The two major concerns are the extent of slowdown in housing and how it can feed into growth and consumer spending," said Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc., a research firm in New York.

Mr. Shapiro, for one, says growth could drop from 3.5 percent in 2005 to 3.2 percent in 2006.

"That is going to push up production activity into the first half of the year," said Mike Fratantoni, an economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association, which expects 3.7 percent economic growth in 2006, up from 3.6 percent in 2005.

So, we have: 3.6 to 3.5; 3.6 to 3.2; and 3.6 to 3.7. Even the worst of those is only a small dropoff, and actually a very good number in general - yet, the Times feels the need to caution us as to the failing economy.

Worse yet: Every single statistic quoted showed a major positive shift in the economy; yet, the Times tried to place doubt in each one. Save Mr. Shapiro's projection, for which no basis is provided, even the actual projections were optimistic. In fact, every negative question in the article seems to be based on Mr. Shapiro's statements; while the positive oulooks are shared by a number of different people.

The Times spends 3 paragraphs trying to imply the job market is weakening; then caps it with this tidbit that shoots it all to hell.

Economists expect 220,000 new jobs will be created, according to a survey by Bloomberg News.

The Times' reporting has gotten so incredibly partisan it is disgusting. Read NB for more shredding. He does an excellent job.

Technorati tags: New York, Times, Economy, GDP.